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Difficulty starting solids with 9 month old...

Hi Ladies,

I've picked the brains of my friends in my LLL group, but I thought I should post here in case anyone else can offer some insight.

My baby is 9 months old, and seems very interested in solids, but I think she is just not ready. My first daughter I introduced solids beginning at 6 months, and she wasn't really interested until 8 months. I decided to save myself the hassle of starting at 6 months and wait until 8 months with my current baby. Another reason for this is my oldest *does* have food allergies- to chickpeas, peanuts, and cashews. I think that this *may* have played a role in her slow start with solids (she didn't start eating regularly until closer to a year.)

I have been offering small tastes of solids for about a month now, and my baby either seems uninterested or disliking the taste (banana, avocado, pears) or likes the taste (peas) but either way she is definitely gagging and struggling with swallowing. We have been giving her tiny tastes, mushed up, and also allowed her to "mouth" a chunk of banana under close supervision. She will taste everything initially but really seems uninterested after the initial taste/gag.

During this same period, however, she has been either teething or has a cold, and her nose has been pretty much running constantly. A friend with a slightly older baby says her son does the same gagging thing when he has a post-nasal drip.

So now I cannot tell whether it is that she still has tongue-thrust and is truly not ready for solids, or if it is because of the continual runny nose. Either way, after my husband watched me offer her a taste of peas (the new frozen kind Dr. Sears recommends) he agreed that she just doesn't look "ready."

I understand that solids are for learning and experimentation but not nutrition the first year of life, but I just want to make sure that I'm handling this situation OK. Because I don't *really* know what is going on, I'm going to wait at the very least until the runny nose clears up to offer again. Then I should just keep offering periodically if she is still having problems, correct?

I don't have a pediatrician that I particularly trust on feeding issues, btw... I am now strongly feeling that I should find one that I feel comfortable with! My primary concern is that I don't want to run into a problem with a problem with iron levels if she's still not eating much by one.